CC BY
4
UDC 82.39+761.1
Вестник СПбГУ. Востоковедение и африканистика. 2022. Т. 14. Вып. 4
Qing Dynasty Miao Albums Illustrating Ethic Groups of Guizhou Province: Attribution and Album Genealogy*
E. A. Zavidovskaia
Institute of China and Modern Asia, Russian Academy of Sciences, 32, pr. Nakhimovsky, Moscow, 117997, Russian Federation Bryansk State University,
14, ul. Bezhitskaya, Bryansk, 241036, Russian Federation
For citation: Zavidovskaia E. A. Qing Dynasty Miao Albums Illustrating Ethic Groups of Guizhou Province: Attribution and Album Genealogy. Vestnik of Saint Petersburg University. Asian and African Studies, 2022, vol. 14, issue 4, pp. 618-634. https://doi.org/10.21638/spbu13.2022.403
The paper addresses Qing dynasty albums containing illustrations and notes about ethnic groups of southwest China usually termed as Baimiaotu WffiH, or Miao albums, there are Miao albums illustrating ethnic groups of Guizhou, Yunnan, Hunan, Hainan and Taiwan. Library of St Petesrburg State University holds four hand-painted albums — two on Yunnan, two on Guizhou. Over a hundred Miao albums are scattered across the world, with most valuable early editions, some with dates and prefaces, are housed in the Western museums and universities. The paper shows approaches to systematization of the albums showing Guizhou ethnic groups, including such criteria as number of pictures (usually either 82 or 40), the position of the picture and text, special features of pictures (human figures with or without background), some conclusions are based on the typology of albums housed in Guizhou, which was proposed by Chinese scholars. The paper discusses under what circumstances the number of pictures has increased from 40 to 82 at the turn of the 19th century, what sources on Guizhou were used for annotations. The paper compares illustrations and texts from two St Petersburg University albums and those from the US collections. Conclusion about necessity of deeper study of primary sources, which provided basis for Miao albums, e. g., local gazetteers, "Qing Imperial Illustrations of Tributary Peoples" (1761) etc. is made.
Keywords: Miao album, Guizhou, Qing dynasty, ethnic groups, genealogy, attribution, manuscript.
Introduction
The Miaomantu is but one of the many existing versions of the Baimiaotu HffiH (Illustrations of the Miao Minority Groups, or Miao Album), they are painted albums illustrating life of different ethnic groups that have been inhabiting Yunnan and Guizhou provinces during the mid-late Qing dynasty (below referred to as Miao album or Album), the illustrations are accompanied by more or less detailed description of peculiar traits of each group. The Albums were initially intended to educate local officials about the cultures and customs of ethnic minorities, which would allow them to rule more effectively.
* This study was funded by the Russian Science Foundation, project no. 22-28-00119, https://rscf.ru/ project/22-28-00119/.
© St Petersburg State University, 2022
Their emergence had straight connections with the Qing gaituguiliu policy of
moving the southwestern borderlands from indirect control of minorities through local chieftains tusi to direct control by the central government and incorporating them into the system of taxation.
Oriental Department of the Scientific library of the St Peterburg State University holds four unique manuscripts — hand-made albums illustrating life and customs of non-Han ethnic groups from southwestern provinces of Qing China, one of them "Illustrated Notes about Barbarians of Southwest of Yunnan Province" (Diansheng yixi yinan yiren tushuo M^^ffi^S^AH^, preface 1839) with 44 annotated plates depicting peoples of Yunnan has been recently republished with modern commentary [1]. Another anonymous album on Yunnan with 78 plates (Xyl F-25) has unique composition combining a map with visual images of tribe's activities in the area. Miao albums should be seen in the context of other written sources on the region, which are also present in abundance in the library of the St Peterburg State University and will be discussed in the separate study. St Petersburg State University library holds two Albums with illustrations of Guizhou ethnic groups — "Miao Illustrations of the Entire Qian [Guizhou]" (Quanqian miaotu Xyl 27, originally had 40 plates, 28 left) and the anonymous album Xyl
F-25a containing 73 plates with short poetic descriptions. All four albums entered the library of St Petersburg Imperial University in 1855 when transferred from the Kazan Imperial University in the cause of establishing a new Oriental Department in St Petersburg and closing one in Kazan. Supposedly, they were brought to Russia from Beijing by the renowned sinologist Vasiliy P. Vasiliev (1818-1900), where he stayed in 1841-1850. The albums could have been acquired at the Liulichang book market. Album Xyl F-25a has a mention of "year 1844" on its new cover made in Russian proving that they were most likely obtained by Vasiliev.
The paper attempts to place St Petersburg albums within a genealogy system suggested by previous scholarship. It is but a preliminary approach to the phenomena of 'Miao albums' without in-depth discussion of codicological, ethnographic or artistic aspects of the St Petersburg albums. The goal is to work set up a context for further studying of our albums based on the parameters generally characteristic of this type of cultural object. Further research will be able to reveal what is special and new in these particular albums. The goal of this paper is to define approaches most productive for attributing Miao albums with focus on those about the ethnic groups of Guizhou.
Discerning connections between editions of Miao albums
The aspect traditionally scrutinized by the scholars from China and Taiwan is attribution of the hand-made copies of the Albums in order to trace connections between editions, determine their genealogy, single one the most authentic and valuable ones. Since over one hundred eighty Albums (including those on Guizhou, Yunnan, Hainan, Taiwan etc.) have been scattered around the world with only a small portion available online or in catalogues, the scholar's main concern has been to establish some criteria for sorting out types of Albums1.
1 Currently there is no general database encompassing Miao albums from all over the world, the most recent list is to be found in the Appendix of [2, p. 267-269]. Taiwan holds around 9 albums, mainland China — 30, Italy — 16, Russia — 10, USA — 14, Japan — 12, Germany — 7, France — 6, Czech Republic — 2.
Most of the scholars agree that the 'ancestor' album depicting ethnic groups of Guizhou titled "Eighty-two Miao Illustrations with Explanatory Notes" (Bashierzhong miaotu bing-shuo was produced by an official Chen Hao K^, Assistant Perfect
from Bazhai A^ (Guizhou) in 1800-1805, and had been kept at the Guizhou governor office (Guizhou anchasi JtiilSS^), this edition has not survived, only its numerous copies remain both in China and abroad. An argument proving real existence of Chen Hao's Album has been inclusion of textual passages from Chen's album in the work "Notes about Qian [Guizhou]" (Qianji ^i) published by Li Zongfang (1779-1846) with preface dated
by 1834. Scholar from Guizhou Yang Tingshuo ^MMiM has recently republished 11 albums of Guizhou nationalities found in Guizhou [3]. Yang's principle of systematization was to grant Chen Hao's album a status of an 'ancestor', other editions mainly located in Guizhou province have been compared to this 'ancestor' Album, different versions of Albums and their lines of descent have been delineated. Yang Tingshuo and his colleagues file out the following types of Miao albums depicting tribes of Guizhou:
1. "Liujiaben" of the private owner Liu Yong inherits composition of Chen Hao's "Eighty-two Miao Illustrations with Explanatory Notes", 71 plate, image is to the left, text to the right (Congress library, 1786 edition has opposite composition, see Fig. 2), produced no later than Daoguang ^^ (1821-1850) period.
2. "Bojiaben" title "Illustrations of Guizhou's Miao with Comments" (Qian-miao tushuo housed at the Guizhou Museum ftfflflfeffi, has been produced by a number of authors outside of Guizhou, 80 plates, the closest hand-written copy of Chen's album, the image occupies the entire page, the text is placed on the white background covering part of the image, produced no later than Daoguang ^^ (1821-1850) period. According to Hu Jin ii^, 28 plates of this album are copied form "Qing Imperial Illustrations of Tributary Peoples" (Huangqingzhigongtu first edition 17511761) or present a mixture of Zhigongtu images with those from Kangxi era "General Gazetteer of Guizhou province" (Guizhou tongzhi Hi'lffi^, 1673) [4, p. 80].
3. "Boyiben" housed at the Guizhou Museum MiilW^ffi is a coarse and not accurate copy with single portraits of tribes people, chief source of pictures could be Liujiaben low cost market copy produced around 1881-1890.
4. "Taijiaben" title "Album with Illustrations of Miao Barbarians" (Miaoman tuce ffiSHW) housed at the Fusinian Library ffiM^Htfffi of Academia Sinica (Taiwan), 82 plates, acquired by Fu Sinian at the Liulichang market in Beijing, seen to be a descendant of Bojiaben [5].Chinese scholars do not value it highly due to low accuracy of notes.
5. "Taiyiben" title "Album of Barbarian Miao" (Fanmiao huace
housed at the Fusinian Library ffiM^H^ffi of Academia Sinica [5], 82 plates, low quality copy with numerous errors.
6. "Liuyiben" of the private owner Liu Yong title "Forty Illustrations of Guizhou's Miao with Explanatory Notes" (Qianmiao tushuo sishifu
40 plates, some content has been added reflecting social changes of late Qing, text is to the right, pictures to the left, was produced later than Bojiaben a copier well familiar with it. Most valuable from the point of textual information.
7. "Boyiben" housed at the Guizhou Museum, "Shidaben" from the Library of Guizhou Normal University "Shengtuben" from
Guizhou Provincial Library M^^B^ffi (years of copying 1938-1942), three albums belong to the same group with similar images, they do not draw descent from Liujiaben, but from other line of copies parallel to it, all three are the early 20th century editions.
8. "Baimiaotuyong" WffiHt^ (Illustrations of Miao with Verses), preface 1890, over 100 images with poems and comments for each picture, its author was not familiar with Liuyiben, Bojiaben and Liujiaben [6].
The question arises whether the version of the Album considered to be the earliest is the one with the largest amount of plates and described ethnic groups? Logically, their number was supposed to increase in the cause of time, outward expansion of the empire enlarged the area better understood by people involved in the production of these albums, "as the Qing extended its administrative reach into more remote areas, the scope of geographical inquiry reflected in the provincial gazetteers increased as did the number of recorded groups of non-Han peoples" [7, p. 633]. It remains challenging to answer under what circumstances some plates and their descriptions were eliminated or added? Li Hanlin examined "Illustrations of Guizhou Miao with Comments" (Qianmiao tushuo ^ffiH^) termed as Liujiaben, a 'descendant' of Chen Hao's Album with 71 plates and suggested the reasons for number of plates to be reduced by ten (compared to original 82) be the following: 1) descriptions of some ethnic groups could be duplicates of each other or redundant; 2) terms used to define some ethnic groups could have undergone changes; 3) the compiler of the later Album could find out that an ethnic group which used to be considered a separate one is actually just a part of a larger group. Liujiaben does not have a separate entry for yaomiao Affi, since it was later learned to be a part of a lager heimiao Mffi ("black miao") group [8]. Notably, anonymous Album Xyl F-25a does contain separate entries for both yaomiao and heimiao, it also has a plate for caijia miao M^ffi absent in Liujiaben and Bojiaben. Such observations may render a suggestion that Xyl F-25a could descend from some other copy of Chen's album.
Another type of album different from Chen Hao's version with 82 plates contained around 40 plates (also the case of Xyl 27 from St Petersburg), some 40 plate editions adopted single portraits of the ethnic groups from the "Qing Imperial Illustrations of Tributary Peoples" (Huangqing zhigongtu lilH, first edition 1751-1761), which contained 42 plates for Guizhou ethnic groups, "the number of different groups that were recorded by name, and thus categorized, increased steadily. The number grew from thirteen in 1608 to thirty in 1673 to forty-one on 1741 to eighty-two by 1834" [9, p. 127].
An important parameter to systematize the Albums is their composition, whether the note is located on a separate page or placed on the same sheet with an illustration. Laura Hostetler mentions later Albums without text, "the texts were almost certainly discarded when albums were rebound by those who had acquired them on the foreign art market, could not read them, and did not value the calligraphy or the ethnographic content" [10, p. 27]. Therefore, the later editions of the Albums produced around the end of 19th — early 20th century more likely belonged to this category of 'art market product' whose quality and informative value had deteriorated compared to the earliest editions. With growing interest of foreign visitors to Miao albums in the second half of the 19th century there emerged an industry of their copying, but the quality suffered accordingly. Jing Zhu's contribution to the study of Miao albums is in accentuating the aesthetic pleasure associated with looking at the Albums in the context of "the proliferation of popular ethnography in
late imperial China and", as a result "careful reading of evidence collected from prefaces of Miao albums, poems, novels, travel accounts and local gazetteers... argues that Miao albums were popularised in the marketplace and viewed for pleasure by consumers beyond local government officials", she concludes that "it was common to produce albums by copying, especially among the artists commissioned to make albums, or who made albums for the marketplace"[2, p. 221, 222, 235].
Features of the early Miao albums
Checking earlier editions preceding Chen Hao's album may shed light on other lines of descent. Early Album "Forty Types of Miao Peoples" (Miaomintu sishizhong ffiKH 0+S) from Etnologisches Museum in Berlin dated by 1768 with 39 plates proves that Chen Hao might have been relying on earlier sources when compiling his Bashierzhong miaotu bingshuo2. Researcher Hu Jin states that Chen Hao consulted "Guizhou Book" (Qianshu preface 1690) by Tian Wen EB^ (1635-1704) and other written sources on Guizhou peoples, then he produced his classification of 82 groups and supplanted it with pictures, Li Zongfang also consulted Tian Wen's work [4, p. 76].
As long as Chen's album is much larger than version from Berlin, Berlin's edition could be an earlier version of Liuyiben with 40 plates, final conclusion can be made after their accurate comparison. This shift from Albums with forty images to eighty-two overlaps with emergence of Chen Hao's album and the one translated by David Deal and Laura Hostetler, dated "after 1797" with 82 ethnic groups [10]3. According to Hu Jin, prior to Jiaqing MM (1796-1820) period Guizhou gazetteers contained only names of 60 ethnic groups, most of them without detailed description, which extended to 82 descriptions only in Chen Hao's album and were reproduced by Li Zongfang in his "Notes about Qian [Guizhou]" [4, p. 76]. The undated "Miao Album for All of Guizhou Province" (Quanqian miaotu ^^ffi H) housed at the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology (Object CG98-1-129) contains 40 plates [12]4.These cases render a suggestion that longer version with 82 plates appeared around the first decade of the 19th century, later than the one with 40 plates. 40 plates may have inherited images from illustrated local gazetteers, this statement is pending a further study.
Evolution of the terms used for various ethnic groups turns out to be an important marker for attribution of the Albums reflecting the process of better understanding of the local society by Han officials, which resulted in the systematization or regrouping of these terms. Yadi Holzl discusses ethnic terms used in the Berlin's album "Forty Types
of Miao Peoples" and concludes that terms dadumiao Aliffi ('big belly miao') and duan-qunmiao feMffi ('short skirt miao') have disappeared from the later albums in the cause of the formation of two categories called sheng ^ 'raw' and shu M 'cooked' [civilized] miao and changes in the geographical division of the area [13, p. 137]. But our Albums prove that 'short skirt miao' remained, but 'big belly miao' indeed disappeared from later Albums.
2 More detail on the history of this album in [8, p. 176]. Two images from Berlin album have been published in [11, p. 563].
3 The place of storage of this album is not known, in 1976-1977 David Deal received a photocopy of this album from someone at the Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery at the Smithsonian Institution. The preface says that the sender of the album is not known.
4 Can be viewed: https://www.penn.museum/collections/object/72454 (accessed: 10.01.2022).
Yadi Holzl claims that first Albums emerged during Kangxi era (1672-1722) prior to the first edition of the "Qing Imperial Illustrations of Tributary Peoples", Laura Hostetler also mentions that "the Miao albums have precursors in illustrated administrative documents that reach back into Kangxi reign", she suggests that earliest Albums appeared between 1692 and 1741, and used data from local gazetteers, e. g. Guizhou Gazetteers tongzhi ffl^ dated by 1673, 1682, 1692, 1741, "in Jaeger's opinion, Miao albums probably began to be produced circa 1740 during the early part of the Qianlong emperor's reign following on the heels of the Yongzheng suppressions. Cit. Jaeger "Ûberchinesische Miaotse-Albums" (1916)" [8, p. 161]5.
An early Album from the Library of Congress "llustrations of Miao Barbarians: not separated into scrolls" (Miaomantuceye: bu fenjuan ffiSHWM: Library of Con-
gress control number 2 014 514 069) with preface by Fangting f^^ dated by 1786 contains 41 plates6. Preface says that the work was initiated when Fanting began his duties as an official in Qian (Guizhou) in the year 17867. Illustration1shows that "picture to the right, text to the left" composition tends to be older than the vice versa position found in above mentioned Liujiaben, Liuyiben editions from Guizhou and British Library edition (Fig. 1). Importantly, Berlin Album (1768) also has a composition similar to that on Fig. 2.
Library of Waseda University ^ÏSffl^^ (Japan) holds the two volume album "Complete Illustrations of All Miao of Guizhou province" (Qiansheng zhumiao quantu ^ ^^ffi^H8) with 72 illustrations, which also follows the fashion of Fig. 2 with text to the right and image to the left on two separate pages (Fig. 3)9.
Società Geografica d'Italia holds seventeen Miao albums, the finest of which "Illustrations of Miao of Qian province" (Qiansheng miaotu Catalogue No. 57c) is without date and contains 18 illustrations and 18 captions of the same format on the left, it was reproduced in [14, p. 402]10. Fig. 4 demonstrates a page from the untitled album (No. c.61) with 40 illustrations, it appears to follow the composition of Bojiaben with text placed on the same sheet with an image, but number of plates differs. Yang Tingshuo discovered straight connections between Italy's c.63 album (80 plates) and Guizhou's Bojiaben (80 plates) [16, p. 208].
What determines the historical value of the Albums
The Miao albums research mainly rests on the study of the early editions, preferably those with preface and dates, seen as more authentic and possessing higher value as historical source on the customs and lifestyles of 18th-19th century peoples of Southwest China. This paper touches upon composition and main features of the earliest Miao album editions
5 Jing Zhu lists Ming dynasty precursors of Qing Miao albums [2, p. 13].
6 Can be viewed: https://www.loc.gov/item/2014514069/?loclr=blogint (accessed: 10.01.2022).
7 More detail on Fang Ting in [8, p. 177].
8 Can be viewed: https://archive.wul.waseda.ac.jp/kosho/ni16/ni16_02301/ (accessed: 10.01.2022).
9 Waseda University Library also holds an album "Illustrations of Miao Barbarians with Comments" (Miaomantushuo in two vols., National Diet Library holds album"Illustrations of Miao Barbarians with Comments" (Miaomantushuo Kyoto University Library
holds "Illustrations of Barbarian Miao Paying Tribute" (Jingongmiaomantu Tokyo
University^S^^holds "Illustrations of Miao Customs with Notes" (Miaozifengsuhuaji fiSMii), all undated.
10 Research on the Italian albums can be found in [15].
Fig. 1. Undated album, British Library. Orll513 [10, p. 10]
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Fig. 4. Inv. no. 61c No title. 40 plates. Società geografica d'Italia [14, p. 402]
from: Etnologisches Museum in Berlin (1768), the Library of Congress (1786), album translated by Deal, Hostetler (after 1797). A rather late lithographic edition "Illustrations of South Guizhou's Miao Barbarians with Commentary" (Qiannan miaoman tushuo ^SffiSH^, 1881, 86 plates) by Gui Fu (1724-1896?) housed at the Library of the Central University of Nationalities ^^K^A^H^ffi (Beijing)is valuable for two prefaces by the author, four prefaces by other authors and one afterword by another author [17].
The rest of the Albums checked for this paper remain anonymous and undated including those from St Petersburg State University library. Album Xyl F-25a (73 plates) is different from above discussed editions by the fact that short hand-written descriptions are written on pieces of paper and glued in one of the top angles of the picture (being a scene with background landscape), the description has only 3-4 lines, it is shorter than in other editions. Album's general design reminds that of "Illustrations of Miao Barbarians with Commentary" (Miaomantushuo ffiSH^) from Harvard-Yenching Library, Harvard University with 42 plates with image and text on one page11.When comparing descriptions of the same ethnic groups from Xyl F-25a (Fig. 5) and in Yenching Library album Miaoman tushuo (Fig. 6) we see considerable difference in the content of the images and the textual part. We present them below in two columns and add a corresponding description from the "Qing Imperial Illustrations of Tributary Peoples" (Fig. 7):
Fig. 5. Illustration of Songjia-zi ethnic group, album No. Xyl F-25a, Library of St Peterburg University
11 Can be viewed at: https://curiosity.lib.harvard.edu/chinese-rare-books/catalog/49-990089863430203941 (accessed: 14.01.2022). Eight Miao albums from the Yenching Library have been republished in [18].
Fig. 6. Illustration of Songjia-zi ethnic group, album from Yenching Library, Harvard University
Fig. 7. Illustration of Songjia woman, "Zhigongtu"
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Xyl F-25a (St Petersburg State University Library) Yenching Library "Illustrations of Miao Barbarians with Commentary" Zhigongtu
Fig. 5. Song families Text: HicSlf^nria, ¿p^iiiBi&H i§, gll. Translation: Song families are in Guiyang prefecture and Anshun prefecture. Lapels differ as long and short, their cut is new, hats of men and hairpin are so red that this redness causes irritation, they laugh at the weddings, follow ugly customs, carrying away a bride and chasing her — the reason for this custom is not clear. Image: The picture shows a group of men and women pointing at the elderly man sitting inside a veranda. The picture displays the costumes of Song family, but the meaning of the scene is not clear. Fig. 6. Plate 2. Song families 'MM Text:.*|?£*;H5&lim B^SHHI®], Hi ASH m, MARMffi, iB2.#u, fittest, j&gm«Affo Translation: Song families are in Guiyang, Anshun prefecture (homonym character 'fu ® is used instead of correct l^f), language is familiar, similar to Chinese, men have a hat and long lapels, women have hairpin and short skirt, during the wedding the male party carries the female party on his back to his home, they are chased with tools in hands, so-called 'carrying away a bride', men plough, women spin, recently many have been admitted into government schools. Image: Costumes are different from those in F-25a, it is a scene of chasing a bride being carried away on the groom's back, a woman chasing them holds a bunch of bars. Fig. 7. tilltiMMM^W (A Woman of Song family Miao from Guiyang-fu) Text: A2.it, ff, st^ffiHo №?iitii/fT:. en itg, -ts ft-an St:. HillM-S«., iiAjfM® fit. it», Ai?itAI±j01, IB2. r#®j .:. mmmm, mm», ^pita, wawAff Translation: Miao of Song family are descendants of the Song from Autumn and Spring period. Their ancestors have been captured by Chu rulers wang and moved to the areas of southern yi barbarians. They were never governed by tusi chieftains. During Ming were under jurisdiction of Guiyang-fu prefecture. They are mixed with Han population, pay taxes together based on the size of the fields. Men have a hat and long lapels; women have hairpins and short lapels. When a woman marries, man's family sends people to meet [her], bride's relatives come out in crowd and flog them as a punishment, called "taking away a gown". Understand Chinese very well, plough and spin diligently, know ritual and law, some enter state schools. Image: Shows only a Miao woman of Song family, this attire is not reproduced in Album pictures.
The image from the Yanching Library album reproduces the custom called "taking away a gown", but it is not described in words, written descriptions about male and female costume are copied with more or less accuracy from the "Qing Imperial Illustrations of Tributary Peoples", Xyl F-25a seems to have a more emotional description showing author's attitude.
Descriptions of the Album Xyl-27 (28 plates out of original 40) are written in finer calligraphy and contain more information than those in Xyl-25a, the picture (figures of people on blank background) is placed to the right, text to the left on a separate page, its composition reminds that of "Miao Album for All of Guizhou Province" (Quanqian miao-from the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology. We compare descriptions of 'hongmiao' (red miao) from these two albums (Figs 8, 9) and from Zhigongtu (Fig. 10):
Texts from these two plates (Figs 8, 9) are almost identical with only difference concerning 'bamboo clothes' for the funeral. Images are also almost identical, F-27 album boasts more refinement in drawing, picture from the University of Pennsylvania album (Fig. 9) looks like its coarse copy. Details about the clothes, silk production and women stopping men's fights are present in all three sources. More detailed comparison of two albums would render conclusions about their similarity and connections.
Fig. 8. Illustration of red miao, album No. Xyl-27, of St Petersburg University
Fig. 9. Illustration and description of red miao, University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and
Anthropology
Fig. 10. Illustration of Red miao woman, "Zhigongtu"
Xyl F-27 (St Petersburg State University Library)
The University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology "Miao Album for All of Guizhou Province"
Zhigongtu
Fig. 8. Red miao
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Translation: Twenty fourth scroll Hongmiao who are at the Dongren Administrative unit, many have one of the five surnames Wu, Long, Shi, Ma, and Bai. All their clothes are made of multicolored silk. Needlework is the main occupation of women. Their domesticated animals are not butchered, but rather they are beaten to death.
They use fire to burn away their fur. They undercook meat to leave it bloody and eat it. When people die, they use coffins and take clothing left behind to dress up alikeness. They strike drums, sing, and dance, which they call "diaogu" (drum melody). Every year on the third day of the fifth month, the husband and wife sleep separately and do not dare to speak, and do not leave their homes, to avoid ghosts and lest they cause a tiger to arrive and injure them. Within the same group (of Miao) they fight and kill each other. It takes the women to defuse the situation. Whenever they go out, they coerce those who are wealthy to bring out their cattle and wine and in groups plunder their own, dividing the spoils amongst themselves. After they are pacified, they are all obedient.
Image: A scene of a man with spear being admonished by two women, a baby stands by.
Fig. 9. Red miao
Text:
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Translation: As for the Hongmiao from the Dongren Administrative unit, many have one of the five surnames Wu, Long, Shi, Ma, and Bai. As for their clothes, they know how to use variegated silk. The women work using this material to make the clothing. Their domesticated animals are not butchered, but rather they are in most cases beaten to death. They use fire to burn away their fur. They undercook meat to leave it bloody and eat it.When people die, they use coffins and use bamboo clothing left behind to dress up a likeness. They strike drums, sing, and dance, which they call "diaogu"
Every year on the third day of the fifth month, the husband and wife sleep separately and do not dare to speak, and do not leave their homes, to avoid ghosts and lest they cause a tiger to arrive and injure them. Within the same group (of Miao) they fight and kill each other. It takes the women to defuse the situation. Whenever they go out, they coerce those who are wealthy to bring out their cattle and wine and in groups plunder their own, dividing the spoils amongst themselves.
After they are pacified, they are all obedient [12, p. 81].
Image: A scene shows a man with spear being admonished by two women; a baby stands by. Female clothes are with less decoration compared to F-27.
Fig. 10. A woman of Hong Miao from Tongren-fu (®«| &EltiS)
Text:mi-mmis, hbp^S
iz, ¡astute*
TKttfflis.. mimta, mwm, mm
¡titffi«/l-H£5o Kit«, M
®> n> diss»®, ftfiiaimts.. m
if, ^««(SS^o ffiWit I«, Ek fl^tto ic
mi«, timift-. mumm, mmm, «o mmBMB, «t^-it, s^siswisitffio tttw
Translation: Tongren-fu area belongs to Hongmiao (Red Miao). During Yuan and early Ming several zhangguansi were appointed to rule them. During Wanli era power of two local tusi- Tongren and Dawan was handed over to the dispatched officials, a county seat was established in Tongren. During the eighth year of Yongzheng (1730) of the ruling dynasty have pacified Xihong Miao from Songtao. Tong-zhi (assistant of the county legislate) has been transferred and placed there several times in order to subjugate them, they are still in charge of Shengxi area and seven other tusi chieftains. Annual contribution of Miao's grain is over eighty dan. Those who live on the eastern and western slopes of the mountains neighbor with three provinces — Qian, Chu and Shu. Miao tribes who have not arrived to Chinese culture live in bamboo forests deep in the mountains. Often made trouble with robbery. Having been subjugated restrain from it! Miao have surnames Shi, Ma, Tian, Long. Make clothes out of self-woven multicolored silk. Men make hair into a knot and bind it with red silk. Women wear cone shaped hats, short dresses and red skirts with brocade border which hangs down as a ceremonial belt with pendant. Family couples on the third day of the fifth month shut themselves at home and spend time in silence not to attract souls of the dead who were eaten by a tiger. Pugnacious by nature. Stop fighting if women admonish them.
Image: a female figure wearing clothes which are described in the text.
Conclusion
This preliminary review of several publically available albums about Guizhou allowed to outline their major features: number of plates, position of text and image, types of images (groups of people with background landscape, groups of people on blank page, single figures). Based on the genealogy of several albums housed in Guizhou the paper attempts to analyze under what circumstances the number of images increased from 40 to 82 and concludes that these two lines of descent appeared at the turn of the 19th century and continued to coexist for a long period of time. Albums from St Petersburg University Library also represent these two lines of descent. The paper carried out a comparison between St Petersburg albums, editions from the US collections (Yenching Library of Harvard University, University of Pennsylvania) and entries from the "Qing Imperial Illustrations of Tributary Peoples" Zhigongtu showing that Albums do contain data from Zhigongtu, but with variations, pictures from the Albums seem to have little connection with Zhigongtu. Further in-depth analysis is required for infer connections between official written sources and Miao albums from St Petersburg University library.
References
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Received: January 26, 2022 Accepted: September 15, 2022
Author's information:
Ekaterina A. Zavidovskaia — PhD in Philology; katushaza@yahoo.com
Цинские «альбомы о мяо», изображающие народности провинции Гуйчжоу: атрибуция и вопрос генеалогии альбомов*
Е. А. Завидовская
Институт Китая и современной Азии РАН,
Российская Федерация, 117997, Москва, пр. Нахимовский, 32
Брянский государственный университет,
Российская Федерация, 241036, Брянск, ул. Бежицкая, 14
Для цитирования: Zavidovskaia E. A. Qing Dynasty Miao Albums Illustrating Ethic Groups of Guizhou Province: Attribution and Album Genealogy // Вестник Санкт-Петербургского университета. Востоковедение и африканистика. 2022. Т. 14. Вып. 4. С. 618-634. https://doi.org/10.21638/spbu13.2022.403
Работа посвящена так называемым альбомам с инородцами, или «альбомам о мяо» (баймяоту WffiH), которые изготавливались вручную в Китае в середине XVIII — начале ХХ в. Они представляют собой альбомы с миниатюрами, изображающими бытовые сцены с участием представителей этнических групп Юго-Западного Китая, в основном провинций Юньнань и Гуйчжоу, но существуют также альбомы об автохтонном населении провинций Хунань, Хайнань и Тайвань. Ранние альбомы создавались для того, чтобы облегчить чиновникам, направляемым на окраины, управление местными народами. По всему миру насчитывается более ста «альбомов о мяо», в Научной библиотеке Санкт-Петербургского государственного университета хранятся четыре альбома: два — о народностях провинции Юньнань, два — о Гуйчжоу. Задача исследования — выяснить критерии систематизации альбомов с «инородцами» из Гуйчжоу и прояснить генеалогические линии разных изданий. За основу взяты принципы классификации «альбомов о мяо», предложенные учеными из КНР. Прослеживается тра-
* Исследование выполнено за счет гранта Российского научного фонда № 22-28-00119, Ы^:// rscf.ru/project/22-28-00119/.
диция оформления двух типов альбомов, содержащих 40 и 82 иллюстрации, которая оформилась примерно на рубеже ХУШ-Х1Х столетий. Для систематизации альбомов важно также различать их дизайн, расположение текста и изображения, наличие или отсутствие заднего фона на картинах, количество фигур. Проведено сличение изображений одних и тех же этнических групп из петербургских альбомов (ХуШ-25а, ХуШ-27) с альбомами из университетов США. Сделан вывод о том, что требуется более тщательное изучение источников, откуда могли быть взяты описания и изображения для альбомов, а именно местных географических описаний, альбома «Изображения данников правящей династии Цин» (1761), для того чтобы точнее определить место «альбомов о мяо» в системе источников по региону, а также проследить особенности доступных для исследований рукописных альбомов.
Ключевые слова: альбом о мяо, Гуйчжоу, эпоха Цин, этнические группы, генеалогия, атрибуция, рукопись.
Статья поступила в редакцию 26 января 2022 г., рекомендована к печати 15 сентября 2022 г.
Контактная информация:
Завидовская Екатерина Александровна — канд. филол. наук; katushaza@yahoo.com
